Apostol, 34 of Provo, Utah, a veteran of Survivor: Tocantins and Survivor: Heroes vs. Villains, got seven of eight jury votes to win the $1 million prize and title of “sole survivor.”

Since the season premiered in September, it’s been fun watching returning players compete against their loved ones in a series of fierce challenges and emotional tribal councils that more often than not promised the potential of a shocking blindside.

So why should Sunday night’s finale be any different?

Here’s what happened in Survivor: Blood vs. Water’s final episode.

Kasama

Just like after last Wednesday’s heated tribal council, Tyson, Gervase and Monica spent their first moments back at camp congratulating Ciera on her convincing but ultimately failed attempt at prying Monica away from her alliance. Going forward Ciera knew the only chance she had at salvaging her game was by finding the hidden immunity idol, a feat that would become more feasible when one of her three former allies (either Laura M., Tina or Hayden) returned from Redemption Island.

In an attempt to further reassure Monica that she could trust him; Tyson offered to give Monica his hidden immunity necklace. Ultimately Monica declined to take the idol, as the former Survivor: One World player knew she was all but guaranteed a seat in the final three considering she would continue to be a swing vote.

The Final Redemption Island Duel

For the final Redemption Island Duel, Hayden, Tina and Laura M. were tasked with keeping one of their feet on a balancing board while making sure that the vase at the other end did not fall to the ground. The last person standing with their vase intact would not only win the duel and the final clue to the hidden immunity idol, but be reinstated in the game.

While I’ve had my fair share of complaints with the premise of Redemption Island, I appreciate its potential to add a game-changing element near the end of the competition.

Despite having won five of her last six duels by a landslide, Laura M. got off to a very shaky start as she nearly lost her balance a number of times. After a series of incredible acrobatic recoveries by Laura M., Hayden — who before the duel told the cameras that he liked his chances at winning considering that he was going up against “two grandmas” — was the first player eliminated after he slipped of the beam while attempting to wipe sweat from his eyes.

“Tina, let me have it please,” a struggling Laura M. pleaded moments after Hayden was eliminated.

“No way sister,” Tina responded. “I love you, but this is a million dollar challenge, honey.”

As shocking as it was to hear Laura M. beg Tina, it was more shocking to see Laura M.’s vase crash to the ground, considering how she had dominated almost every challenge. With that, Tina won the right to rejoin Kasama.

Kasama and the Immunity Challenge

Having rejoined her former tribe, Tina immediately made it clear that the only way she and Ciera could move on was to convince Monica to join a “three girls, all mom alliance” but not before they searched for the hidden immunity idol. Seeing as how we knew that Tyson had found its weeks ago, I questioned whether or not the producers should consider bringing a second hidden idol into play.

When Tina and Ciera approached Monica, the Florida native made it clear she was openly considering her options. Ciera fed Monica’s paranoia all the while appealing to her ego and making sure that she felt in control of the vote. The same can’t be said for Tina’s confrontational approach to Monica that almost sealed her fate until Ciera jumped in to smooth things over.

For the second-to-last immunity challenge, each player had to pull a rope that levelled out an imbalanced table while periodically collecting wooden blocks to balance on the table. The first player to collect and stand up all 10 blocks would win immunity. Each of the five remaining competitors managed to stay within striking distance of each other during the early stages of the challenge, however it was Tyson who broke away from the pack at the halfway point and went on to win his first individual immunity challenge of the season.

The First Tribal Council

Upon returning from the challenge, Tyson, Gervase and Monica went off to discuss who to vote out. Gervase said they should vote out Ciera because she’d made a number of big plays while Monica believed that Tina was more of a threat because she hadn’t had to stab anyone in the back and was well liked among the jury.

That led to a very tense moment between Gervase and Monica as the former Survivor: Borneo player aggressively told her why she should vote out Ciera instead of Tina. That led Monica to seriously reconsider whether she wanted to stay with her alliance.

At Tribal Council, Monica made it very clear she was going to make the move that was best for her and talked about considering a game-changing move against one of the tribe’s “villains.”

Sufficiently spooked, Tyson gave his hidden immunity idol to Gervase, ensuring that his biggest ally would make it to the final four. In the end, it proved unnecessary as Monica stood by her alliance and helped them vote out Ciera.

The Final Immunity Challenge and Tribal Council

For the final immunity challenge, each player had to race through obstacles while collecting bags of puzzle pieces two at a time. Once they collected all six bags, each competitor had to complete a puzzle to unlock a combination lock that released a flag.

From the start, it was obvious that Tina was going to be a nonfactor as the early stages of the challenge proved to be quite physical. Monica, Gervase and Tyson all made it to the puzzle portion of the challenge within moments of each other. Once again, Tyson pulled away from the pack and won his second consecutive immunity challenge.

Back at camp, Tyson and Gervase began to think about their speeches to the jury while Tina once again approached Monica in an attempt to overthrow Tyson and Gervase. To do this, Tina suggested that they force a tie between her and Gervase, which would ultimately be decided in a fire-building challenge. Despite the forward thinking, Tina’s plan was all for not as the final vote saw Tina unanimously ousted by the rest of her tribe.

The Final Tribal Council

When it came time for the final three survivors to plead their cases to the jury, Gervase, Monica and Tyson all outlined why they believed they were worthy of the million-dollar prize.

As a veteran who played in the game’s inaugural season back in 2000, Gervase told the jury that he managed to successfully combine old tactics with new strategies.

“I had a 13-year layoff and came back into this game,” he said.

Instead of boasting of her credentials, Monica spent most of her opening speech addressing the “elephant in the room.”

“I know that you all think that I was strung along like a puppy dog on a leash by these guys to get to the end and that’s not true,” she said, adding that she wanted to sit next to Tyson and Gervase in the end because she has less blood on her hands and has not broken as many promises as they have.

In his opening statement, Tyson explained how the early ousting of his girlfriend, Rachel, motivated him to make it to the end. Especially considering that she was voted out in an attempt to lure him out of the game.

“When she left I said, ‘I have to get to day 39 no matter what it takes. I have to focus every day and show her that I appreciated her sacrifice knowing that the reason that she left was because of me,’” he said, fighting back tears.

While most of the jury’s questions were very standard — Caleb asked Gervase what his game-changing move was and Aras asked each finalist who deserved to win — Monica took an emotional beatdown from a number of jury members who accused her of being fake. Shortly after showing Laura M. a vulnerable side by admitting that she feels as if she’s has been living in her husband’s shadow, Monica tearfully turned on the jury.

“I don’t know what it is you all want. Have you all never met a nice person? Have you all never met somebody that isn’t selfish? Have you all never met a neat lady?” she said, fighting through tears.

Although it appeared that Monica’s tearful confession would help gain some votes, the hardened mother of three proved no match for Tyson as he ended up taking home the title of sole survivor and the million-dollar cheque that goes with it.

For those keeping score, Tyson won seven of the jury’s votes eight votes, while Monica won the only other vote (which was from Vytas, who had promised not to vote for Tyson if he played a part in voting him out).

While I’m not convinced that this season’s Blood vs. Water twist added anything extra to the game, I am always happy to watch veteran players compete against rookie players and that fact alone made this season of Survivor another entertaining chapter of the long-running reality TV staple.

Five Things We Learned From the Reunion Show

1. Between the bamboo flooring and the constant paranoia, I can’t say that I was totally surprised to hear that the castaways on Survivor don’t sleep more than two to three hours a night.

2. Rupert has no regrets for switching places with his wife in the show’s inaugural episode. I think I speak on behalf of most Survivor fans when I say that watching him return would have made the season exponentially more enjoyable.

3. Harvard graduate and last season’s sole survivor John Cochran is now a writer on the CBS show The Millers.

4. In what had to be the saddest news of the night, Tina explained how her son died in a car accident a few weeks ago because he did not have his seat belt fastened. “Please buckle up,” she pleaded to the audience while her daughter, Katie, said that anyone who wanted to honour his memory could send donations to the Red Cross Philippines Disaster Relief Fund.

5. Jeff revealed that next season’s iteration of Survivor will be called Brawn vs. Brain vs. Beauty.

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